Pursuit
by ALEO
Summary: In the pursuit capital of America, even an FBI agent and a math professor can be in the wrong place at the wrong time. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**Numb3rs - PURSUIT**

**In the pursuit capital of America, even an FBI agent and a math professor can be in the wrong place at the wrong time.**

Disclaimer – I don't own them, I just borrowed them. All programs and characters are the property of those that created them. No copyright infringement intended.

_**A/N:**__ Just a short something that occurred to me as I was doing research into TV news stations in LA – strange where the internet can take you… Still working on another story._

Charlie glanced over at his older brother in annoyance. Don had his cell phone glued to his ear, speaking with someone at the office. Fortunately his older brother had plenty of experience driving his SUV whilst thus preoccupied so was able to deftly manoeuvre the large vehicle through the morning traffic.

No, what annoyed Charlie was that up until the phone call they'd been having an actual conversation. Don had come by the house that morning for no real reason, had breakfast and offered to drive Charlie to CalSci. There was no ulterior motive, they weren't even discussing a case. Just reminiscing on various childhood adventures they'd had. But half way to CalSci Don's cell rang and he'd been on it ever since. It was Megan. Charlie had listened to Don's half of the conversation for a few minutes but it was mostly about correct forms, what should be included in the report and so forth in relation to a case Charlie knew nothing about.

He reached out and fiddled with the radio, turning it on and scanning through the channels. He rarely found anything he wanted to listen to on commercial radio, but with nothing else to do… He shrugged and kept scanning, listening to each for a few seconds before moving on.

"…_has being going on now for nearly two hours. I wonder how much gas he could have left_." A voice announced. Intrigued Charlie waited a little longer. "_At these sorts of speeds he must be nearly running on fumes. The LAPD, not giving him a moment's rest, have been right on his tail the whole time_."

A second voice came on. "_Dan, can you tell us again how this dangerous pursuit started?_"

"_From what we've heard on the scanner the car refused to yield after running a red light. Officers have identified that the vehicle is in fact stolen, carjacked at gunpoint at about 5:30 this morning. LAPD first saw the car a little after 6am and have been chasing it on surface streets ever since. We've been overhead in the CBS2 helicopter for most of that time. Oh, that was close! He nearly took out that pickup truck making that right onto __Cerritos_."

"_Do you have anything on who the driver is?_"

"_All we know is that he is armed with a hand gun. Woah! Through that red light without stopping, nearly t-boning that compact! This is a desperate man, trying to escape the LAPD_."

"_With the statistics showing only one in five pursued perpetrators managing to escape, the LAPD are unlikely to back off_." The second announcer explained.

"_That's right_." Dan confirmed. "_They had the stop sticks out earlier but he managed to avoid them. The streets are too busy now for the PIT manoeuvre so they are sticking on his tail, keeping the pressure on. The LAPD chopper is overhead as well. It will have to end soon. Left onto __Sunkist__, the car fishtailing wildly as he nearly loses it. He must be getting tired_."

Charlie sat up suddenly, looking around. They were currently slowing behind traffic stopped at a red light. Charlie looked at the street sign and could just make out that they were on State College Boulevard at East Ball. Those streets the reporter had named were streets near here, Sunkist only a few blocks over. He wound his window down and could faintly hear sirens approaching.

"Don." Charlie said, trying to attract his brother's attention. He was ignored. The sirens came closer.

"Don!" Charlie pulled at his brother's right arm.

"Hang on." Don lowered the phone. He looked up and saw the light was still red. "What's up, Charlie?"

"Don, listen." Charlie pointed at the radio.

"…_nearly cleaned up those pedestrians. They had to run to get out of the way." The announcer was continuing in his excited voice. "From Winston onto State College Boulevard now, doing at least 50. Slowing down, braking hard now. Looks like traffic all stopped ahead at the lights. It might be all over. He has nowhere to go_."

The sirens were right behind them now. Charlie turned in his seat and Don looked out his rearview mirror as the announcer continued.

"_He's out, running up to a black SUV in front of him. I hope they got their doors locked_."

Don belatedly reached for the lock, putting the pieces together and realising what was happened. But it was too late as he saw the man come along the side of his SUV and open the back door, jumping in behind him. He heard Charlie's startled gasp and turned to see first the gun pointed at his younger brother and then the man that held it.

"_Oh no, looks like a hostage situation now. LAPD keeping well back waiting to see what happens_." The radio blared.

Don reached out a hand without looking and managed to hit the off button, all whilst keeping his eyes on the armed man. He was more a kid actually, young, barely 20 and looked terrified and determined at the same time. His clothing was middle of the road basic, casual jeans and sweatshirt against the cool morning. His hair had seen the inside of a barber shop some time in the not too distant past. The single ring in his eyebrow was plain along with the plain stud in his right earlobe. All in all he didn't quite fit the picture of a gang-banger or a street kid. More like one who was trying to look the part but wasn't the real deal.

The gun shook in the kid's grip but stayed pointed in Charlie's general direction. Don could see that the gun was loaded, it was a revolver and the cylinders that he could see definitely had bullets in them. As to whether or not it would fire was an unknown. It all depended on where the kid had got it from. A lot of revolvers on the street lately were faulty, more likely to kill the wielder than the potential victim. Don couldn't take the chance with Charlie's life however.

"Get me out of here." The kid yelled glancing at Don. "Drive or I'll kill your friend."

"Charlie," Don started, talking calmly and evenly. "Get out."

"W-what?" Charlie quavered not taking his eyes off the muzzle.

"Get. Out." Don said firmly in the tone of voice Charlie called his 'official FBI voice'. "Now."

"No!" The kid yelled. "Drive!"

"I'll drive when he gets out." Don said his voice leaving no room for negotiation. "Charlie, out. That's an order."

-11-1000-1-10010-1100-1001-101-

Charlie finally moved. He unlatched his seatbelt, twisted and flung the door open, tumbling out and running a few steps through the traffic to safety. A voice yelled at him from behind the stationary cars, an LAPD officer telling him to get down. Charlie angled his way back towards the officer.

A new siren started, from back the way he had just come. Charlie turned and saw his brother's SUV back up slightly before pulling around the stationary cars in front of it and leap towards the intersection, passenger side door closing due to the acceleration. Don was on the wrong side of the road, siren blaring. Charlie knew that the line of strobe lights across the top of the windscreen would be on as would be the flashers in the headlights. He could see the red and blue lights in the rear window. Don would not make such a dangerous move without them. The SUV made it safely through the intersection and was away, pursued by all but two of the squad cars.

Charlie reached the officer that had called out to him. The other officer was checking the car abandoned by the fugitive. "You got to help Don." Charlie started, voice raised to be heard over the helicopters overhead.

"Don's the driver, right?" The officer said.

Charlie nodded.

"Who is he? The siren…" The officer started to say.

Charlie interrupted. "Don Eppes, my brother. He's FBI."

The officer swore and grabbed at the radio handset clipped to his shoulder, calling it in. "Dispatch, this is 377. The hostage is an FBI agent."

The dispatcher relayed the information to the pursuing LAPD units.

"I'm Andrew Gilden." The officer introduced himself, steering Charlie towards his squad car.

"Charlie Eppes."

"Are you FBI as well?" He continued after sliding in behind the wheel.

"No. I'm a math professor at CalSci. I just consult for the FBI."

"I've got to take you downtown." Gilden said starting the car.

"No. I've got to stay with Don."

"I can't take a civilian on a pursuit." Gilden argued.

Charlie scrabbled around his pockets finding his wallet. He sorted through the cards and finally found the one he wanted. He thrust it under Gilden's nose. "I'm not a civilian."

Gilden took the card, looking at it closely before handing it back. "NSA?"

"We've working an important case." Charlie lied desperately. "I have material in the car that can't be lost." Partially true. "I have to stay with it."

Gilden felt that Charlie's story wasn't quite true, a moment before he'd been a math professor but now produced a NSA ID card. Gilden came to a snap decision. With the NSA card in the equation he figured he was covered so relented. He put his unit in drive and pressed the accelerator sharply, headed not downtown but after the SUV.

Charlie reached frantically for the seatbelt as they screamed off up the road trying to catch up to the other units. Charlie tried desperately not to watch as his driver wove in and out of traffic, even occasionally pulling onto the wrong side of the road dodging on-coming vehicles. He couldn't help it however and soon noticed that there were less vehicles on the road and more pulled off to the side of the road. They were catching up to the pursuit. As much as the dangerous driving scared him he did not want to be anywhere else, except maybe still in the SUV with Don. On one level he kicked himself for abandoning Don, but on the other he realised that Don now felt able to do something about the situation. Don would never take any chances if his youngest brother had still been in the vehicle.

A voice came over the police radio, something had been thrown from Don's SUV. A few seconds passed and then the same voice announced: "_FBI's tossed his gun_."

"What's that mean?" Charlie asked.

"It means your brother tossed his gun out of the vehicle. One of our units stopped and picked it up." Gilden replied.

Charlie suddenly thought of Don's team. They needed to know what was happening. They would find a way to help. Don needed help.

Charlie wanted his cell phone and reached into his pocket before remembering that he had put it in his laptop bag. The same laptop bag that was in Don's SUV. He felt a pang of worry for the laptop, it did contain some precious data. But it could never be as important as Don and he felt guilty for worrying about it. He didn't want to interrupt Gilden but he needed a phone. "Officer Gilden?"

"What?"

"Do you have a phone I can use? I need to call the FBI field office."

The officer took a hand off the wheel causing Charlie to close his eyes. "Here." Gilden said a second or two later. Charlie opened his eyes and saw a cell phone being waved in his direction. Gratefully he took it. Grateful to have the phone but even more grateful when Gilden immediately put the hand back on the steering wheel. He noticed his hand was shaking and felt clammy. He tried desperately not to think of the accident statistics relating to high speed pursuits. LAPD drivers were well trained but they were driving in amongst other drivers who weren't so well trained. Those accident statistics clearly indicated that other drivers often pulled out in front of a black and white without even seeing it, despite lights and sirens.

Charlie dialled but Megan's phone was engaged. He tried David's phone next, in his mind an old memory surfaced, Don telling him once that 'numbers were his thing'. He had never been so glad, mathematics aside, otherwise he would never have been able remember all these phone numbers.

"Sinclair." David snapped, sounding distracted.

"David, it's Charlie."

"Charlie, are you alright?" David asked suddenly his full attention on the conversation.

"It's Don," Charlie started, ignoring the question.

"We know. He left his cell on, Megan heard what happened."

"Is he alright?"

"He's fine, Charlie." David reassured him.

Charlie could hear voices in the background, he thought one sounded like his brother. "You have them on speaker."

"We're monitoring and recording." David told him. "We're not in contact. Charlie, where are you?"

"I'm in a LAPD squad car behind the pursuit. Officer Gilden is trying to catch up." Charlie looked out the windshield, able now to see the other LAPD cars up ahead in the distance.

"Hang up Charlie. Let the officer concentrate on his driving. We'll call if anything comes up."

"Wait, this isn't my phone. Mine's in Don's SUV." Charlie asked Gilden for his number and passed it on.

"Got it." David said and broke the connection.

Charlie looked at the phone in his hand before again looking out the windshield. They were at the back of the pursuing squad cars. Gilden seemed content to stay well back. Charlie couldn't even see Don's SUV. He felt disconnected, he couldn't help Don, didn't really even know what was happening. He heard the constant updates on the police radio but they were almost in code, brief and to his analytical mind virtually non descriptive.

He suddenly realised what he needed: the radio. But he didn't want to distract Gilden, the ride was hairy enough already. He looked closely at the cell phone and started scrolling through menus. He finally found what he wanted and accessed the radio, selected speaker, setting the volume to low and placing the phone against his ear. He knew he could have accessed the video feed but that would take up too much phone battery and frankly looking at such a small screen in a moving vehicle would have made him thoroughly car sick in very short order.

"…_heading up to the freeway now_." The announcer Charlie had been listening to before said, continuing a blow by blow description of what was happening from his vantage point in the helicopter overhead.

-100-1111-1110-

Don let out his breath in relief as his brother finally moved and almost fell from the SUV in his haste. He watched until Charlie reached the relative safety of the other side of the car stopped beside them. Through the still open door he saw Charlie react to something and turn his head to look towards the LAPD units. He was safe.

Don turned his attention back to the kid sitting behind him, unobtrusively putting his still active cell phone into the drink holder in the centre console. Megan would be able to hear everything. He looked back to see that the gun had now swung his way. He found himself looking down the trembling barrel, the same view that Charlie had had seconds ago.

"He's out. Lets go!" The kid yelled, deliberately shaking the gun as emphasis.

Don winced, the kid was way too keyed up, the gun could go off by accident the way he was waving it around. "Alright. Anything you want. Just settle down and lower the gun." He said in as soothing a voice as he could manage.

He checked his mirrors and glanced at the traffic around him. The other cars were still stationary at the intersection, blocking him in. He looked over at the oncoming lanes and found them virtually empty. As much as he didn't really want to be involved in this he had no real option. He certainly couldn't allow the kid to move onto another car and hijack an innocent civilian. No, for the moment at least, he had to play along.

Don reached down and flipped the switch for his lights and siren as he put the SUV in reverse. He backed up a few feet before changing gear and peeling out into the oncoming lanes and crossing the intersection. He switched back to the correct side of the road as soon as he could. Driving into the oncoming traffic and through cross traffic was not something he wanted to do too much of. He saw the LAPD units following as he accelerated and wove his way around the slower moving cars.

"Who the hell are you?" The kid demanded in surprise. "Some kind of cop?"

Activating his lights and siren was a dead giveaway, but Don knew it wouldn't have taken the kid long to see all the paraphernalia mounted on his dash and realise that this was no ordinary vehicle that he'd hijacked. "FBI." Don told him.

The kid swore with feeling, punching his left hand into the back of Don's seat. He came to a sudden realisation. "That means you got a gun. Gimme!"

That was the last thing Don wanted to do. He had some doubts about the kid's gun, but he had none about his own. Don shifted in his seat, drawing the Glock from his holster. The kid reached out a hand but Don suddenly flung the Glock out his window. He'd had no time to unload it and he hoped the internal safeties were up to the task as he watched it bounce onto the roadway behind him. He saw a LAPD unit slow and stop to pick it up.

"No!" The kid protested. "Hey man, what'd you do that for?"

"You've already got a gun, you don't need another one." Don told him. He spared a glance into the mirror to look at the fugitive.

The kid raised the revolver and shook it in Don's direction. "That's right Fed. You gotta do as I say."

"Already doing it, kid." Don told him maintaining a calm voice. If he stayed calm he hoped it would settle the kid down. "What's your name?"

"I'm not telling you nothin'." The kid said stubbornly. "I'm the one in charge."

"Yes you are." Don affirmed. It was important for the kid to believe that. "But I need to know what to call you. My name is Don."

"Jinx." The kid finally offered. "They call me Jinx."

_Yeah, I can see why_, Don thought to himself. _Definitely been a jinx to me_. But Charlie was now safe, that was all that mattered. "Jinx it is. Where are we going Jinx?"

"Just get away."

"Okay." Don said staying on State College Boulevard. The kid was starting to settle down slightly. Everything was going his way for the moment so that was no surprise. Don checked the rearview mirrors and counted six LAPD units. He though he could see another set of flashing lights further back and gaining fast.

"Come on man, this is a cop car. Faster." The kid urged.

Don kept his speed up but wasn't prepared to go any faster. The FBI tuned SUV was powerful enough to give the LAPD units a run for their money but it was simply too dangerous on these surface streets. Not that Don wanted to lose them in the first place. It was also taking all his skill as a trained emergency driver to avoid collisions. The traffic was steadily increasing as the good citizens of LA made their way to work. His best choice was to make for a freeway and head out of town. Less traffic relatively speaking, better road and more opportunities for the LAPD, CHP or Sheriffs Department to stop him dependant on whose jurisdiction they were in when the best circumstances presented themselves. He took a turn leading them onto the Riverside Freeway on-ramp.

"Put the radio back on." Jinx demanded.

Against his better judgement Don compliantly reached over and pressed the button as they reached the on ramp. "…_heading up to the freeway now_." The announcer said.

-11-1000-1-10010-1100-1001-101-

Charlie pressed the phone firmly to his ear, trying to concentrate as they followed Don's SUV, he could finally see it, up the on-ramp onto the freeway.

"_Yes, the black SUV is definitely getting onto the Riverside Freeway. What is going to happen next is anybody's guess. In all my years covering pursuits in LA I've never known a situation quite like this. An FBI agent has been taken hostage in his own vehicle by a carjacker being chased by the LAPD_." The announcer continued, summing the situation up in a single sentence. Dan sounded more excited than confused. "_Taking the ramp to the Orange Freeway. We're now coming up on the 8:30 newsbreak for K-CAL 9. Stay tuned_."

A brief piece of station ident music blared from the speaker followed by the sound of the news intro. Charlie had no idea which radio station this was but it was obviously taking a feed from a television channel. A female voice came on. "_This is the K-CAL 9 8:30 newsbreak. We cross now to Dan in the Sky-9 helicopter. Dan we understand there has been a major development in the chase we've been following this morning_."

"_There certainly has, Stacey_." Dan replied. "_Up until a few minutes ago the LAPD were chasing a carjacker in a stolen car. They closed in on him when he was stopped by traffic at State College Boulevard and East Ball Road. The carjacker then abandoned the stolen car before he hijacked a black SUV waiting at the lights. We saw a man escape from the passenger side of the SUV before it took off. We've learned from the police radio that the driver of the SUV is an FBI agent! If we move a little ahead here and I zoom the camera in you can see the flashing lights on the SUV. This FBI agent sure can drive, look at the skill! Up to eighty miles an hour in and around traffic on the Orange Freeway_."

"_Do we know who the agent is?_" Stacey asked.

"_No we don't. But the carjacker has to know that he's jumped from the frying pan into the fire. If he had any thoughts that the LAPD would back off, he'd have to know that that won't happen now_."

"_Any idea how they're going to handle this now?_" Stacey queried.

"_I don't think anyone knows what is likely to happen next_." Dan said. "_There is now a fellow law enforcement officer in danger. The pursuit has moved up onto the freeway, we don't know if the agent did that on purpose or if the carjacker wanted to go there. Previous to this he had been sticking to surface streets so I'm thinking the agent has some control over what is going on in that SUV. We'll keep following it and let you know what happens_."

"_Thank-you Dan_." Stacey said and went on to other news.

Charlie was impatient, pulling the phone away from his ear, unable to listen to what else was wrong in the world this morning. Nothing was more important than what was happening to Don. He could now see the black SUV up ahead weaving around cars and trucks. Gilden was still hanging back but the squad cars had spread out across all six lanes now they were on the freeway, opening up his view to their quarry.

His fingers itched. He had to do something as numbers started tumbling into his mind. _Speed, time, distance, engine power, fuel usage, friction co-efficients, PIT manoeuvre trajectories, the SUV's centre of gravity, skill levels of the LAPD drivers compared with Don's skill_. They were some of the variables that would affect the outcome of the pursuit. He saw the officer's clipboard and grabbed it, flipping up the top sheet of notepaper as it already had stuff written on it. "Pen, I need a pen." He mumbled looking around. He found one in the officer's shirt pocket and plucked it out before Gilden could stop him.

The equations flowed freely from the pen onto the paper, covering page after page. But they were all useless. He didn't know a lot of the actual figures, _how much fuel was in Don's SUV?_ Neither did he know what the LAPD pursuit supervisor would do. What he did figure out left him more worried than relieved. The high centre of gravity on the SUV made the use of stop sticks or the PIT manoeuvre more dangerous than it would have been on a standard car. The SUV was more likely to loose control and roll despite the modified FBI suspension and the skill of its driver.

He scribbled forcefully over his equations, the pen tip breaking through and tearing several sheets of paper. _Don, there's nothing I can do to help_, he thought hopelessly. _Except be here when whatever happens, happens_.

-100-1111-1110-

"_In other news this morning, the mayor_…" Don switched the radio back off.

"Leave that on." Jinx demanded from the back seat.

"You don't need some helicopter pilot telling you what is happening." Don said making no move to turn it back on. _I also don't need some helicopter pilot telling you that you're not in control, _he added to himself. "It's a distraction. You need to work out what is going to happen next."

"What's happening next is you are putting the radio back on. Hey man, we're famous!"

Don saw that Jinx was excited by the prospect. He was no longer terrified. Now that the kid wasn't driving and didn't have to concentrate on where he was going or avoiding traffic he was starting to actually enjoy himself. He was acting like he was on some sort of ride and wanted a running commentary to go with it. That wasn't good.

"Jinx, this is serious business." Don wanted to make the kid realise what was actually happening, what was really at stake. "You've kidnapped a federal officer. The LAPD are not going to back down anymore. You've seen these chases on TV right?"

"Yeah man, pursuit capital of America."

"They end up being caught or killed. You would have seen that."

"Sometimes they get away. Ain't none of them never had a cop driving them before. You can drive as good as they do. They can't stop you."

"Yes they can." Don said as he manoeuvred around an 18 wheeler and crossed a few lanes to avoid some other traffic bunched up around the slow moving vehicle. They came to the end of the Orange Freeway and Don took the ramp onto the Foothill Freeway heading east. Don realised that his driving skills were somewhat evident, but he wasn't going to change that. He wanted to go home tonight and he wanted all the other drivers around them to go home tonight as well. "They might hang back for a little while but they will come in hard soon enough."

"They'll get you killed man." Jinx said, starting to come to his senses. "They know I got a gun."

"They also know that I'm one of them. We look out for each other." Don said claiming a kinship that only really seemed to exist in these sorts of situations. Normally LAPD were not all that keen on the FBI, especially as the LAPD often perceived the FBI to 'run roughshod' over them, taking control of incidents without a by-your-leave. But here and now Don knew that he would be regarded as one of them, a law enforcement officer caught up in a sticky situation.

He also knew that they would be looking for him to give them an opportunity to end this. He could do that by slowing down and allowing them to PIT him, or by steering onto a set of stop sticks or spike strips and deliberately blowing his tyres. The kid had to realise that that was a likely scenario if he was thinking things through. At this point in time though, despite finally seeming to realise that things were serious, he didn't seem to be too concerned.

Don continued along the freeway, skirting along the northern edge of LA, hoping he could negotiate Jinx into a peaceful surrender before the LAPD pushed them into a corner. He maintained his speed, wanting to get onto fully open road as soon as possible. It was a risk, but the sooner they were away from LA the better. The kid didn't seem to know what he wanted so Don would take advantage of that whilst it lasted.

He glanced down at the centre console and saw that his cell was still connected, the line open. Don decided to gather some information. "So, kid, tell me what this is all about anyway."

"I'm not telling you nothin'." Jinx said stubbornly. "I got rights."

"Absolutely." Don proceeded to read Jinx his rights. Jinx, it seemed, had been previously dealt with by police. He had that attitude.

"Huh." Jinx said as he was Mirandized. He then laughed. "I got the gun and you're arresting me."

Don had not arrested the kid, which was an important distinction. But now that he'd been lawfully cautioned anything he said could be used as evidence. Don was counting on his team to be recording the phone. He just had to get him to talk. "So tell me where we are going then."

"I don't care. You're the expert, get me away from the cops. I done nothin' wrong."

_If only he had a dollar for every time he heard someone say that!_ Catch someone red handed and they still made that claim. "They don't chase people for nothing."

"So I stole a car. Big deal, happens every day." Jinx finally admitted to what he had done. He was also trying to blow it off as minor despite his desperate behaviour.

"If it's no big deal then why run?"

"Three times, man. I've already been done twice."

Don was not happy with that news. It meant Jinx was a three time loser, guaranteed jail time of several years. Risking another six months for failing to yield was minor in comparison. Now there was a kidnapping charge to add which was worse than the first two put together. It just made it harder for Don to find a way to get Jinx to surrender. The kid sounded regretful but Don suspected that was more because he'd been caught rather than because he stole the car.

"Hey you got a police radio in this thing?" Jinx asked suddenly.

"Why?" Don was caught off guard slightly, not expecting the question.

"'Cause I'm asking." Jinx waved the gun around. He was somewhat fond of that.

"I'll have to get my office to patch them in." Don said finally. The kid's behaviour was a bit up and down. Don was hoping it didn't indicate recent drug usage, just confusion at the unfamiliar and highly stressful situation he had put himself into. Being in the middle of it was not the same as watching it on TV.

"Get on the radio, get the cops to back off and let us go."

Don switched his radio on, pulling the handset off its hook on the dash. He waited for the set to finish its start-up before calling in. "3695 to control."

"_Control, 3695_."

"3695 requesting patch through to LAPD pursuit controller, incident on Foothill Freeway heading onto Golden State Freeway." Don said giving them a heads up to his proposed route of travel. The Golden State was a few miles off yet but at this speed it wasn't far. Once on that and clear of LA anything could happen. The information would also allow CHP to organise closure of on-ramps to clear traffic.

"_Standby for patch. ADIC requesting sit-rep_."

Assistant Director in Charge Merrick of the LA field office was now involved. Don glanced in his mirror but so far Jinx had not reacted to anything he'd said. "3695, nil injuries. Single male, name of Jinx, armed with a revolver and wanted for auto theft. Proceeding east, away from LA."

"_Received. ADIC wanting to know demands_."

"Subject wants to elude LAPD." Don answered. It was simple and relatively realistic, no stupid demands for money or helicopters at least.

"_Received. Patch coming on line shortly_."

Don continued to change lanes to get around traffic as he waited. It seemed that there were now fewer vehicles on the road as they started leaving populated areas, travelling through the outskirts of LA. The traffic was now mostly semi-trailers and delivery vans, most people at this hour were heading inbound, not outbound.

"_Control to 3695. Patch is live, go ahead_." The controller stated a minute later.


	2. Chapter 2

_The disclaimer continues…along with the story._

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"_FBI 3695 to LAPD pursuit controller_."

Charlie's head jerked up as he realised that was Don's voice on the police radio. He stared at the SUV as if he could see his brother calmly talking on the radio. Don sounded like he was having a casual chat, not currently leading a wild pursuit.

"_Go ahead FBI_." The dispatcher Charlie had been hearing give out orders replied.

"_Subject requests LAPD back off. Wants to be allowed to escape_."

"_Understood, FBI. LAPD units to drop back. Tac 2_."

"_Subject requires safe passage_." Don said after a few moments, clarifying the fugitive's demand.

Charlie couldn't help it. He pictured the kid as he last saw him, gun shaking and waving around but now pointed at his older brother's head. Statistically Don was already dead so many times now Charlie knew that the anomaly that was Don's luck couldn't hold. The numbers just didn't allow it. Even if a bullet didn't kill him then a crash at eighty miles an hour would. He watched the black SUV dwindle into the distance as the LAPD units slowed briefly before resuming a matching speed to maintain a distance further behind.

"_Subject's safety is assured if he stops_." The dispatcher replied.

Charlie felt that the message was clear, there would be no safe passage. Only promises of safety if the carjacker surrendered. With the threat to a fellow LEO, there would be no guarantees of safety if the situation went tactical.

Gilden suddenly made to change the radio channel. Charlie objected.

"We're moving to Tac 2." Gilden explained. "So he can't hear our comms."

"But Don's on that channel. How can we hear him if he calls again?"

"Dispatch can listen to all the channels at once." Gilden changed the channel back, seeing Charlie needed the line left open. The officer turned on the portable radio clipped to his belt instead, flicking the switch on top to move to the other channel. He'd be able to hear dispatch through the shoulder handset.

Gilden's cell phone rang in Charlie's hand. The number showed as restricted so he figured it was from the FBI field office for him. "Charlie here."

"Charlie, the LAPD are in contact with Don on the radio." David said, keeping his promise to let Charlie know of any developments.

"I know."

"He's doing fine." David said trying to reassure the mathematician. "We're listening in to Megan's cell. Don's trying to talk the kid down. He's calming and starting to think rationally. We're onto the LAPD by phone, giving them what we got. We don't want it to go over the air that we're listening in. If that TV helicopter jockey gets a hold of the information who knows what will happen."

"Are you watching it?" Charlie wanted to know.

"Live on the internet." David said. His tone indicating that he wasn't so sure it was such a good use of technology. "I take it you were listening to the radio feed."

"I was. They stopped it for news." His own tone indicating his thoughts on the relevance of the 'news'. He hadn't checked to see if the running commentary was back on yet. Now that things had settled a little however, with steady travel along the freeway instead of exciting changes of direction on surface streets Charlie knew that the radio would more than likely move on to normal programming, ready to switch over if something did happen.

"It will be okay, Charlie."

Charlie wanted to believe that. But there was a problem. "Statistically the longer these go for the more violent the ending." He said.

"How many of those chases had Don at the wheel?" David countered. "How many of those offenders had a skilled negotiator in the car with them?"

"None." Charlie answered.

"There you go. The statistics don't count. Don knows what he's doing. He'll work something out."

"I guess so." He wasn't entirely convinced but he did believe in Don's skill to make things work out. His luck seemed to hold in spite of Charlie's numbers. He hoped it would continue to do so. He didn't like to be wrong but in this situation he would be happy if he was.

"He's also told us his plans. The highway patrol will be able to shut down the freeway making it safer for everyone and giving them an opportunity to take action if necessary." David continued.

Charlie found this less reassuring. He didn't want the LAPD or CHP to 'take action'. That invariably led to the violent endings shown by his statistics. No, the only safe way out of this for Don was for him to be successful in talking the fugitive into surrendering.

They suddenly took a tight turn and Charlie concentrated his attention outside the squad car. They were now on the Golden State freeway still heading away from LA and would soon be out in the desert. Charlie was not so sure that Don was making the right move. With the CHP shutting down the freeway they would soon end up in a position where they would felt they had to intervene. He felt that Don may have been better off heading the other way, into the city. There the kid would have a chance to escape if they were stopped.

But he knew his brother didn't think like that. Don wanted to keep everyone else safe and also wanted to catch the bad guy. Simple as that. So he headed to the desert, into a situation more dangerous to himself but safer for everyone else.

"Charlie?" David was still on the phone.

Charlie had forgotten the phone in his ponderings. "Yeah, still here. They need to hang back a bit longer. They need to let Don have a chance."

"That's what they're going to do, for a while at least. They're not going to rush into anything unless they have to."

"I hope so. For Don's sake." Charlie said and hung up.

He watched as they blew past an on-ramp, blocked by a CHP cruiser at the top. Then past an off-ramp, also blocked by a cruiser. There were going to force Don to stay on the freeway now. There weren't too many ramps now and so Don's options were greatly limited. He hoped that Don really knew what he was doing.

-100-1111-1110-

Don hoped he knew what he was doing. He had no real plan as yet. Getting out of LA seemed to work and now he had to just figure out how to safely stop and let the LAPD take Jinx into custody. The major stumbling block of course, was that Jinx didn't look like agreeing to that plan and he had the gun to back him up. So some more negotiation was called for. They passed an off ramp blocked by a CHP cruiser. With options being blocked he no longer needed to go quite so fast. With a degree of relief he cautiously eased off the accelerator and engaged the kid in conversation again.

"They've backed off Jinx." Don started. The kid didn't seem to notice that they were slowing. Good.

"Hey, you told them man."

"They'll be back soon enough." The agent said, deliberately trying to burst the kid's bubble.

"Then you make them back off again."

"Jinx, listen up. How long do you think this can go on for?"

"As long as it takes. I seen the movies. Hollywood, man. They won't do nothing now I got a Fed hostage."

Back to that again. Don felt as though he was going in circles. "Movies aren't real. This is real, no scriptwriter making up stuff that sounds exciting. People get hurt in these situations, sometimes permanently."

"Not gonna happen."

Don sighed. The kid was still young enough and cocky enough to feel bullet proof. Their speed dropped below sixty-five. "It will happen, kid. It will happen today, very soon. If we keep this up you're going to get hurt and probably drag me into it as well. I know what I'm talking about."

"You ever chased anyone?"

"Yeah, a few times."

"What happened?"

"If they didn't stop they got hurt."

"You ever killed anyone?" The kid's voice was a little quieter.

"Yeah." Don admitted. A dose of reality was what the kid needed. Now they were doing fifty-five. "That could happen to you. Today."

It seemed to sink in this time. Jinx watched as they went past another off-ramp blocked by the highway patrol. He turned and watched as the cruiser pulled out on the freeway behind them. He also saw the LAPD squad cars in a line across the width of the freeway, following them relentlessly. He wound his window down and briefly stuck his head out the window. There were three helicopters overhead. He recognised the LAPD and highway patrol, the third one was much higher and he realised it was the news chopper.

Don watched as the kid seemed to be thinking about things, and hopefully coming to the correct conclusions. He checked the speedometer as the needle dipped towards forty.

Jinx finally noticed they were slowing. "Hey, watcha doing? Go faster man."

"No need for that any more." Don told him. "I don't want to kill us in a wreck. You want to kill yourself, that's fine. You got the gun. Go ahead, the blood will wash out." He was deliberately callous.

"You won't be washing it man, I'll take you out first." The kid said, but it sounded more like bluster than a serious threat.

"You take me out, you die for sure." Don snapped. "I don't think you want to die, you care too much for that."

"How would you know man?"

"If you didn't care you wouldn't have run. You got family?"

Jinx was silent for a minute. "Yeah, a baby brother. You?"

"That was my younger brother you pointed your gun at." Don worked hard to keep the anger out of his voice. It would be counter productive here, he felt the kid was starting to open up, anger would only shut him down again.

"Then you understand."

"Understand what?"

"The things you have to do for family."

"You steal cars for him?"

"We need the money man."

Don frowned, that didn't sit right with the observations he had made before. The kid seemed reasonably well kempt and certainly wasn't starving. Don didn't think he was wrong, he was sure the kid was trying to act like a badass but wasn't really. "There's more to it than that, isn't there?"

"My brother, he got into something. He owes these dudes some green. If I boosted a few more cars they would clean the slate." Jinx finally said after a long silence and several more miles of freeway. By reverting back to street language he was still trying to act tough.

"How much does he owe?"

"Five large."

"There was no other way to get it?"

"It's not like we can ask the old man."

"Why not?"

"Sure." Jinx said sarcastically. "So what do you reckon my brother's supposed to do? 'Hey dad, guess what? I owe some gang-bangers five grand. Do you mind if I borrow some cash?' Like that would work."

"You tried, right?"

"Yeah." Jinx admitted. "No dice. Get this; he said if 'Tod got himself into it he could get himself out'. What a dad."

"So now, you're here in this mess." Don summed up. "Where is Tod?"

"Probably getting into more trouble."

"Sounds like it's about time he took some responsibility for his actions." Don risked insulting the kid's brother. "Does he care what it's costing you?"

"He's my brother, man. I can't just abandon him." The argument sounded forced.

That would be a 'no', Don thought. "It hardly sounds like he's bothering to return the favour. Sounds like he just expects big brother Jinx to save the day."

"Michael." Jinx said suddenly. "I'm Michael Collins."

Don allowed himself a slight smile. Stockholme Syndrome could work both ways. He'd finally got the kid to identify with him by talking about what they shared in common, brothers. That allowed Jinx, no it was Michael, to feel safe enough to talk about himself. It should also serve to give Don a measure of protection as well. He was now a real person who also had a brother, not just a 'Fed'. He returned the favour. "Don Eppes."

A silence descended inside the SUV. Don felt that Jinx needed more time to think so left it alone. They were now travelling at just under thirty and still gradually slowing. A couple of highway patrol cruisers were now ahead of them leading the way, forcing the minimal remaining traffic off to the shoulders giving them a free run.

"I'd shake, but," Michael trailed off then shrugged, lifting the gun slightly before allowing it to rest in his hand on his lap.

"Nothing's stopping you, Michael." Don said gently, carefully watching the rearview mirror. Close, very close now.

Michael let go of the revolver. He looked at his right hand, raising it as if to offer to shake. It was the done thing after formal introductions after all.

Don took that as a sign and actively applied the brakes. It was still gentle but slowed them much more obviously than the gradual easing he'd been doing up to this point. The kid didn't object. Don braked harder and pulled to the right stopping in the right lane. Finally, an hour or so after it had all started, they came to rest. Don pulled the keys from the ignition and, before the kid had a chance to stop him, tossed them out and behind them onto the freeway, disabling his SUV.

Still no objection from the kid. Don turned in his seat and exchanged a meaningful look with Michael. The kid raised his right hand and pushed it forward. Don responded and shook the offered hand.

"What do I do?" Michael asked.

"Give me the gun."

-11-1000-1-10010-1100-1001-101-

"_FBI 3695 to LAPD pursuit controller_."

Charlie had been waiting, hoping to hear from Don. They had been stopped for a few minutes now but nothing had appeared to happen. The trailing LAPD squad cars and highway patrol cruisers had stopped a short distance behind. The other highway patrol cruisers had stopped up ahead. LAPD and highway patrol officers were standing beside their vehicles, guns drawn, sheltering behind their doors. Charlie was standing beside Gilden's squad car, at the rear of the pack. But he was close enough to hear the radio transmission from Don.

The freeway was completely shut down, the SUV alone in an oasis of concrete.

"_Go ahead FBI_."

"_Michael Collins would like to surrender_."

"_291 is the lead LAPD unit, FBI. He will co-ordinate_."

Gilden had stopped too far back for Charlie to see what was happening up ahead. All he could see were officers pointing guns towards the rear of Don's SUV. Towards Don. Charlie scrolled through the phone's menu again and was rewarded with the sound of the helicopter news pilot.

"…_here on the side of the freeway. The black SUV has been stopped for a few minutes now with no sign of movement. We can see the FBI agent in the driver's seat and the hijacker behind him. Police officers have taken shelter at their black and whites, guns drawn. We know this man is armed and has a hostage. This is a felony stop. It is an intensely dangerous situation at the moment_."

"_Dan, any idea how many weapons the man has?_" The same woman Charlie had heard earlier asked.

"_We know that a gun was tossed out of the vehicle shortly after it was hijacked. We heard on the scanner that it was the agent's gun. We don't know though how many weapons the FBI agent has in that vehicle._" Dan answered in his breathless, excited voice. "_We've just heard on the scanner that the man intends to surrender. We're waiting now to see what will happen. The lead vehicle there, with 291 on the roof will be calling on the man to throw his gun out of the SUV. If we zoom in a little, we can see the LAPD officer appears to be yelling out instructions to the SUV_."

-100-1111-1110-

Michael looked at the gun, the symbol of what had gone wrong with his life. It was done now and he had to live with it. He also had to suffer the consequences of his actions. He picked it up by the barrel and handed it over.

Don accepted the weapon, made the radio call and now waited to hear from the LAPD officer from unit 291. Any sudden moves at this juncture would result in even him being shot.

"Throw the gun out of the car." A female voice instructed.

Michael looked at Don. "You'll help me won't you? I didn't hurt you." He sounded depressed now that his actions were catching up with him. He was going to jail and nothing could change that.

Don didn't answer. He now held the now unloaded gun and didn't need to play nice anymore. The kid had pointed a loaded weapon at his Charlie's head. That was unforgivable. "They won't shoot you if you do exactly what they tell you to do. Understand?"

Michael nodded.

Don threw the revolver out the window, making sure it landed at least two lanes over, well out of range for a sudden dash-and-snatch by the kid. He waited for the next instruction.

"Hands out the windows."

Don immediately placed his hands out the window and watched as Michael followed suit.

"Driver, open your door and get out of the vehicle."

Don had expected that. The LAPD wanted to get him out of the line of fire as quickly as possible. He reached down and lifted the door handle on the outside of the door. He slowly pushed the door open and just as slowly climbed out. He took a couple of sideways steps and stopped, his back to the LAPD. Everything had to be done one manoeuvre at a time.

"Driver, hands on the back of your head and walk backwards towards the sound of my voice."

Don carefully stepped backwards, hands on his head. The LAPD would be taking no chances. He glanced over at Michael as he passed and saw the resignation in the kid's eyes. The kid kept his hands out the window as Don moved past him. It seemed to take ages but Don felt a presence behind him just as he felt someone put their hand over his linked hands at his head. He stopped moving. He heard the handcuffs before he felt them and made no resistance or complaint as he was restrained. He was taken to the back of a police car several units back.

"You FBI?" The officer asked.

"Special agent Don Eppes." He answered. "My badge and ID are in my pocket."

The officer conducted a quick search and pulled the slim leather wallet out, flipping it open. He compared the photo to Don. The wallet was put down and the handcuffs removed. "Sorry agent. Procedure."

"I understand officer." Don said retrieving his ID. He did understand, until IDs were confirmed everyone was a suspect, especially in situations involving firearms.

Don turned to watch as the kid followed more shouted instructions, climbing out of the SUV. He repeated Don's movements until he was finally arrested and handcuffed. As the kid was placed into the back of a black and white Don finally allowed himself to feel the anger that had been pushing at his control for the whole time. The kid had threatened Charlie.

"Don!"

Don turned away in surprise, looking towards the voice. "Charlie?" No, it couldn't be. He should be safe at one of the LAPD buildings. To be here now meant that he'd been part of the pursuit and exposed to the dangerous driving that he'd been forced to do.

"Don!" Charlie ran up to him. "Are you alright?"

"What are you doing here?" Don demanded angrily. "Who brought you here?"

Charlie pointed at Andrew Gilden. "He did. Don…"

Don didn't wait to hear the rest, his blood boiled as he stalked over to the offending officer. He'd managed to get Charlie out of his car and away from the kid with the gun and out of danger. This officer had put Charlie right back into danger.

-11-1000-1-10010-1100-1001-101-

Charlie wasn't sure just when he had ever seen Don as furious as he was now. He stood in shock as his brother stood toe to toe with Officer Gilden chewing him out for taking Charlie along for the ride, for allowing a civilian to be involved in the pursuit.

"You're going to need to look for a job somewhere flipping burgers!" Don finally spat. "I'll have your badge for this!"

"Go ahead and try, mister big shot FBI." Gilden spat back. His temper flaring brightly at such a threat. "He's no civilian, he showed me his badge. You want to take that away as well?"

"What badge? He's a math professor, he doesn't have a badge."

Charlie had had enough. Gilden was in this position because of him and Don had no right to yell at him this way. Right then Charlie didn't care if Don was blowing off steam after the end of the pursuit. Charlie dug once again into his wallet then shoved his way between Don and the officer. "I showed him my badge."

"You don't have a badge." Don said somewhat taken aback. Charlie was not normally this assertive.

"Yes, I do." He held up the piece of plastic, practically at the end of Don's nose forcing him to look at it. In other circumstances Don's crossed eyes as he focussed on the card would have been funny. "And I outrank you Don."

-100-1111-1110-

The ID card was hardly a badge, and Charlie was not an agent. There wasn't even any valid comparison as to whether a NSA consultant outranked an FBI special agent. But his little brother certainly had far more clearance than he did, he didn't even know how high Charlie was cleared. He needed clearance just to find that out. A hint of how ridiculous this all was started to run through his mind. Don sputtered, running out of steam.

Charlie continued. "So no more talk of taking anyone's badge. I told him I had to be here. That's that."

"Charlie, I," Don started. He stopped abruptly, looking down at his feet. "This whole time I thought you were safe. But you were right there, following us through all that traffic at those ridiculous speeds. Charlie, you could have been killed."

"Oh yeah? Well who was leading us at those ridiculous speeds? You're not the only one who can drive a car properly." Charlie answered back as Don looked up at him. "You were the one in the front pushing traffic out of the way! I was at the very back behind all the other black and whites. If anyone was going to be killed it was you!"

Don stopped cold. Charlie had been so worried about him that he had pulled NSA rank he didn't even have on a LAPD officer to force him to take him along with the pursuit. This was the same Charlie who had been unable to get a driver's licence for years because he hated traffic; Charlie who always hung on for dear life if anyone even slightly exceeded the speed limit.

Don suddenly realised just how much of an ass he'd been. He had no excuse. The stress of the last hour or so shouldn't have made him react like this. Taking it out on an LAPD officer who was just trying to do his job was even more stupid. As an FBI agent he was a professional, professionals didn't fly off the handle and threaten people's livelihoods like that. If he'd been Gilden he would have knocked him flat by now. Helicopter news cameras or no helicopter news cameras. That Gilden hadn't, showed that he was better able to control himself than Don was at the moment.

"Officer Gilden." Don finally said, deeply ashamed. He held out his right hand. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. You were only trying to help Charlie. I don't know what came over me."

Gilden looked at the agent for a few moments. He could see the strong bond between the FBI agent and his NSA brother. Gilden didn't have that emotional baggage to deal with in the aftermath of what had been a very tense and difficult situation for the brothers. He had a clear idea why the FBI agent had reacted the way he had, the love between him and his brother was that strong. Strong enough for the agent to have lashed out in an instinctive protective reaction. Gilden bore no grudge, his temper was quick to flare but just as quick to subside. He shouldn't have said what he had either. He had less of an excuse.

"I understand, agent." Gilden told him, accepting and shaking the agent's hand. "No harm, no foul."

-1-1100-1-1110-

"So, anything interesting happen to you boys today?" Alan Eppes asked casually as he watched his two sons come through the front door. It was night, well after six and dinner was waiting.

His two sons looked at each other. Don, always the more observant of the two, glanced over and saw the television was on, recognising the news show. Alan waited with his arms crossed. He'd not enjoyed finding out about this from the television. He'd not really believed it was his sons involved despite recognising Charlie getting out of the SUV at the traffic lights. He couldn't deny it however when he saw the camera zoom in on Don and Charlie standing on the freeway with a LAPD officer after it was all over. And whilst listening to the helicopter reporter excitedly calling a description of what had happened as if it was high entertainment he'd found himself disgusted. It had been a dangerous situation involving his sons, not some television show.

'Yeah, dad." Don finally said. "I guess you could say that."

"We just finished at the LAPD." Charlie said. "We didn't want anyone else to tell you."

"Well someone should have told me something." Alan said. "Long before now."

Don put his keys on the table and pulled off his holster and handcuff pouch, placing them all side by side. "Yeah. I guess so. Sorry dad. We didn't want to worry you and I thought they'd be finished with us long before you'd see the news."

Alan looked at them both for a long moment as they stood there looking back at him. They were two headstrong boys, each in their own way; Don in his independence and Charlie in his numbers. He knew they also didn't tell him some things, not wanting to worry him. He'd found out about some but knew there'd been others he hadn't. But they were both here now, together and none the worse for wear. He would forgive them for not calling, they were safe and that was all that mattered.

"Well, dinner's waiting. Sit. You can tell me all about it as we eat." He went into the kitchen as his sons sat at the table. He came back with some beers, then went to get the food.

They were together, they were a family. All was as it should be.

END

_A/N: I was trying for a more rounded story with this one, Don is still the main character, but Charlie is a major part as well._


End file.
